I'm looking forward to chatting with OSU Extensionist Weston Miller today on his weekly talk show, "Grow PDX", which airs on XRAY fm. Tune in via livestream from 1 to 1:30 pm (Pacific), or go old-school and listen at 91.1fm or 107.1fm if you're in North Portland. And if you miss it, you can also listen to the archived podcast later.

Back in July, I was interviewed by the online news magazine OZY . They wanted my opinion a capital-intensive, high-tech hydroponic contraption. In addition to the article, part of their series called The Good Sh*t, they made a little video about the story which you can watch here. I got to be the crotchety academic who rhetorically asks: “But who actually has access to these resources?”Today, the Portland Tribune posted a story about our Agriculture MTL-PDX field course. Here's a snippet:

Graduate students at Portland State University recently gave their counterparts from Montreal, Canada, a grand tour of the city — not of the food scene, but the urban gardens, which both cities are famous for. Eight PSU graduate students took eight Canadian graduate students to meetings and site visits at some of Portland’s best-kept secrets: urban gardens that have sprouted in recent years to help fight hunger, empower low-income residents, educate children, and give youth and adults access to healthy food right in their backyard or neighborhood. It’s fascinating stuff for planners, since it is a byproduct of gentrification in hot spots like Portland, says Nate McClintock, the PSU assistant professor who spearheaded the student exchange. “Essentially, urban agriculture arises where there’s vacant land, cheap land, a low market rate or wherever food justice activity pops up,” McClintock says. “So many of these projects produce food to address the so-called food desert.” The aim of the exchange, he says, was for students to understand “how entangled urban agriculture is with processes and change and gentrification.”

While the purpose of the report was to discuss the persistence of concentrated poverty, a somewhat revisionist or denialist discussion of gentrification creeped into characterization's of the report's results in some press. The most egregious example was Slate citing the research to say that "gentrification is a myth"... um, say what?! Ever been to N. Williams in Portland, Mr. Buntin?

So Dillon then had to go set things straight. Check out an interview with him on the radio show Let Your Voice Be Heard on WHCR 90.3 fm in Harlem to dispel this idea that gentrification is a myth. Congrats to Dillon on all his great work!

I was recently interviewed for an article for the sustainable ag online hub Seedstock. Author Jenny Smiechowski writes, "It’s easy to label urban farming as the solution to serious societal problems like food deserts, economic development, and obesity. But not all urban farming is alike. Some methods are bound to be more successful, profitable, and impactful than others. The question is which ones are giving cities the “biggest bang for their buck,” so to speak, and which ones are more good for morale?" Read the rest of the article entitled: "Urban agriculture, what's really making a mark?"

﻿Author﻿

Nathan McClintock is a geographer and professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University.